New Ted Cruz ad savages Donald Trump as 'sleaze'

A new television ad released by US Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas)
campaign on Thursday savaged real-estate mogul Donald Trump as
exhibiting a "pattern of sleaze" throughout his decades-old
business career.

The advertisement focuses on Trump's history of embracing eminent
domain, which empowers the government to compel people to sell
private property. The issue, long hated by conservatives, has
become a frequent source of
criticism for Trump on the campaign trail.

Cruz's spot centers on Trump's attempted use of the
policy in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the 1990s. Then, Trump
had been investing in the city's casino empire. It features
a widow, Vera Coking, who refused to sell her home
and
successfully foughtthe state's attempt to seize her
land in order to allow Trump to build a casino parking
lot.

"Heart? He doesn't have no heart, that man," Coking says in
a clip of a televised interview featured in the ad.

The advertisement went on to accuse Trump of a "pattern of
sleaze stretching back decades." It then noted how Trump has
remained supportive of eminent domain on the campaign
trail.

Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, has
defended the policy as necessary for public projects. Last
week during a debate exchange with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
(R), Trump called eminent domain a "necessity" and pointed to
the Keystone XL pipeline, a popular project among Republican
voters.

He said:

And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me
how conservative they are, I think I'm more than they are, they
tell me, "Oh, well, they all want the Keystone pipeline." The
Keystone pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10
feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good
thing, not a bad thing.

Trump and Cruz are battling for a victory in the South Carolina
primary on February 20 after splitting victories in the first two
nominating states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Polls from
mid-January found Trump with comfortable double-digit leads.

The Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment, but Trump retweeted an apparent supporter who called
Cruz the "definition of sleaze":

Earlier on Thursday, Trump accused the "Cruz people" of
conducting "push polls" on the candidate. Push polls are
designed to influence a person's feelings about a certain topic
under the guise of conducting a public poll.

When asked for comment on Trump's accusation, a Cruz campaign
spokesman told Business Insider: "It's not us."